The present invention relates to a vehicle seat with a recliner and in particular to a recliner which yields in a controlled manner to absorb energy during a vehicle collision.
Many vehicle seats are equipped with a lap and shoulder belt restraint system mounted directly to the seat. This provides benefits in terms of comfort and convenience as the belt anchor points move with the seat during seat adjustment and thus stay in a fixed position relative to a seat occupant. With a shoulder belt mounted to a vehicle seat back, the seat back will experience greater loading during a front vehicle collision as compared to a seat back without the shoulder belt mounted thereto. As a result for such designs, it is necessary to provide a seat back and seat back recliner which can accommodate the shoulder belt load.
While seats with integral seat belts currently exist, it is desirable to improve such seats by increasing the energy absorption during a vehicle collision to reduce the energy absorbed by the seat occupant.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide a recliner which yields in a controlled manner during a frontal collision to absorb impact energy.